24 DECEMBER 1937, Page 6

Mr. Bingham's death is very sad. American Ambassadors in London

from James Russell Lowell onwards—indeed from John Adams onwards—have generally been men of marked culture and personality. Mr. Bingham was in addition a man of marked charm. He had an intense love for this country, hardly less than Walter Hines Page, and life had been tranquil enough during his term of office for him to display it without incurring the criticism of his countrymen, as Mr. Page did. I last met him at the Coronation Thanks- giving Service at St. Paul's, which he attended in the scarlet gown to which his Oxford doctorate entitled him ; he was immensely gratified that he alone of the diplomatic corps had been invited to join with representatives of Great Britain and her Dominions in what was essentially a national—almost a family—ceremony. Personally I feel special gratitude to him for first enjoining me to read that remarkable novel Gone with the Wind, and then sending me a copy.

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